The present disclosure relates to charging of an electric vehicle.
The electric vehicle refers to a vehicle driven by using electricity, and is mainly classified into a battery powered electric vehicle and a hybrid electric vehicle. The battery powered electric vehicle is driven by using only electricity without fossil fuel, which is generally called an electric vehicle. In addition, the hybrid electric vehicle is driven by using both of the electricity and the fossil fuel. In addition, the electric vehicle is equipped with a battery to supply electricity for driving. In particular, the battery powered electric vehicle and a plug-in type hybrid electric vehicle have batteries charged with power supplied from an external power supply, and drive an electric motor by using the power charged in the battery.
When the electric vehicle is charged with 60 Hz-commercial grid power supplied through a household socket, an electric vehicle charging cable assembly is used.
The electric vehicle charging cable assembly includes a connector connected to the electric vehicle, a plug connected with the socket, and a power cable to link the connector to the plug.
Since the electric vehicle charging cable assembly is used under various environments, a cable installment type charging control device to ensure the stable charging of the electric vehicle may be provided in the electric vehicle charging cable assembly. The cable installment type charging control device is integrally attached to the power cable so that the cable installment type charging control device is not easily separated from the power cable by a user. In order to ensure the stable charging of the electric vehicle, the cable installment type charging control device is necessary to be strong against an external temperature, external humidity, vibration, and impact. If the cable installment type charging control device includes a connector for wired communication, the connector may include a metal port. Accordingly, the cable installment type charging control device may not satisfy the requirements described above.
However, since the user wants to check the charging state, it is necessary for the cable installment type charging control device, which is integrally attached to the electric vehicle charging cable assembly, to notify the user of the charging state.
To this end, the cable installment type charging control device may show the charging-related information or the failure information through LEDs having a predetermined color.
In other words, the user is required to personally check the cable installment type charging control device with the eyes of the user in order to obtain the charging-related information. In general, the user may want to more check the charging state under the environment that it is rainy, cold, or hot. However, the user feels inconvenient because the user goes out under the above weather situation to personally check the cable installment type charging control device with the eyes of the user.
Meanwhile, the cable installment type charging control device includes a power relay for controlling cut off of power transmission so as to control charging of the electric vehicle.
However, since large power is applied to the power relay, the power relay may be fused. When the power relay is fused, it is impossible to control the charging of the electric vehicle, and thus the cable installment type charging control device has to determine whether the power relay is fused.